Renowned Pianist, FSC's Robert MacDonald Dies at 83

Sunday

Sep 8, 2013 at 10:43 AM

By MARY TOOTHMANTHE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Robert MacLaurin MacDonald’s musical talent was known the world over, but Lakeland laid proud claim to the 83-year-old concert pianist, who died peacefully here Saturday of respiratory failure.

A quintessential gentleman with old world manners, MacDonald served as a professor for 47 years, was artist-in-residence and department chair at Florida Southern College.

He was mentor to countless students and director of the school’s Festival of Fine Arts Series, yet MacDonald had a career of his own as a concert pianist of international renown.

He appeared with many top symphony orchestras throughout the world, and held solo performances as well.

MacDonald grew up in North Carolina. His dignified presence embodied Southern manners, enriched with the international culture he absorbed in his travels throughout his career.

The Florida Southern College community will mourn him, said President Anne Kerr. “He had a great intellect, a wonderful commitment both to performance and to teaching. So much of Florida Southern’s reputation as being one of the finest undergraduate music programs in the nation began with the standards that he set.”

In the nearly five decades, he spent connecting with students, MacDonald influenced countless fledgling musicians. Kerr said he connected with them in his own way, and they responded. “He just engendered in them this love of music,” she said.

His life’s path followed that love. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, MacDonald graduated with a music degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

While a student there, he formed a lifetime friendship with the late actor Andy Griffi th. They traveled around together as part of an entertainment group in the 1940s and 1950s and remained in touch for years afterward.

MacDonald was lauded at the university with the Percy Weeks Award as “Most Promising Pianist.” He obtained a master’s of music in piano at Indiana University.

He also studied in Vienna, Austria, where he earned an artist’s diploma at the Hochschule für Musik. He made his Vienna concert debut there in 1957.

It was also in Vienna that he met and married his wife, Ingrid, an Austrian-born actress, to whom he was married for 53 years.

She survives him, along with their daughter, Sona, an accomplished singer and actress who resides in Vienna; a grandson, Skye MacDonald, also of Vienna; a brother, Donald F. MacDonald of Edinburgh, Scotland; as well as nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grand-nephews.

MacDonald played at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City after his Vienna debut, then launched concert tours throughout Europe for the U.S. State Department.

He arrived at Florida Southern College in 1964. By 1967, he had became chairman of the music department — as he continued to teach and perform across the country and in Europe.

Longtime friend Sarah Mc-Kay said his talent, influence and friendships helped draw musical enrichment to the Lakeland area. “He really was an icon in the music department, and also in the city of Lakeland and outlying urban areas,” McKay said. “He had spent so many years here, entertaining and teaching, and we will really miss him.”

In a Ledger article published in 2002, the late Hazel Haley described his connection with his adopted town. “He’s sort of been Lakeland’s superstar forever,” said Haley, who taught English at Lakeland High School and was involved in the arts community. “And he and Ingrid have brought so much distinction to all the arts in Lakeland. They add something to Lakeland that nobody else has been able to do.”

The sheer joy of listening to him play the piano is etched into the minds of those who were fortunate enough to have heard him play, said FSC’s Kerr. “I could have listened to him play for days and days,” she said. “He was so amazingly talented. I once heard somebody refer to him as our city’s art czar — a very appropriate title. “Even though it is sad, what I hope to help our Florida Southern community do is focus on the joy that he brought to all of us through his personality, his building that music program and then just the hours of joy we spent as he performed, and brought other great artists here for us to enjoy.”

MacDonald’s funeral service will be private, and a memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be provided to the Robert Mac-Donald Music Scholarship at Florida Southern College.

[ Mary Toothman can be reached at 802-7512 or mary.toothman@ theledger.com. Her Twitter feed is @MaryToothman. ]

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